MacEwan Athletics
WINNIPEG, Man. – Keeping pace with the No. 5 ranked team in the country, the MacEwan Griffins men's basketball team were within six points after one quarter and only down nine at the half.
Ultimately, they fell 84-63 to the Winnipeg Wesmen, but they played with them more than the score indicates.
"We played better than the score," said MacEwan head coach Mike Connolly. "We struggled in the third quarter, but with three to four minutes to go in the fourth, it was a 12-point game. Then some missed assignments on defence gave them some open threes."
With the result, the Griffins fall to 0-5 on the season, while Winnipeg remains undefeated at 4-0.
Milan Jaksic led MacEwan with 17 points and seven rebounds in 29 minutes off the bench, while rookie point guard Diego Presingular had 12 points in his first Canada West game in his hometown.
"Diego was good on his return to Winnipeg," said Connolly. "Milan was our best player with 17 points and seven rebounds."
Q1 | Nice fast break pass from Filip Karanovic to Dami Osuma, who pulls off a beautiful skyhook for two points.
— MacEwan Griffins Men's Basketball Team (@Griffins_MBB) November 23, 2024
The @MacEwanGriffins are hanging in with @USPORTS_Bball No. 5 @WesmenMBB, trailing 14-8 after 10 minutes.#GriffNation pic.twitter.com/lyytJLbeVL
Dami Osuma added 10 points for the Griffins, while University of Windsor transfer Jordon Fullerton made his MacEwan debut and finished with eight points.
Winnipeg had four players in double digits, led by Ryan Luke (18 points), Shawn Maranan (14 points), Malachi Alexander (14 points) and Donald Stewart, who had a double double (13 points and 10 boards).
One peculiarity: it was the third-straight game the Wesmen held the Griffins to exactly 63 points, following up on two one-sided victories in January 2024.
Albeit with a small sample size, the Wesmen are surrendering fewer points per game than anyone in Canada West and sit third in U SPORTS for opponents' points per game at 61.0.
The teams will meet again on Saturday (4 p.m. MT, Canada West TV).
Q4 | Diego Presingular caps the scoring for the @MacEwanGriffins with a late three to finish with 12 points in his first game back in his hometown since joining @CanadaWest #GriffNation pic.twitter.com/F36cNNuoUJ
— MacEwan Griffins Men's Basketball Team (@Griffins_MBB) November 23, 2024
-with files from Wesmen Athletics